City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994)

"There is something wrong with your cow." - Jon Lovitz to Billy Crystal
Blame Francis Ford Coppola. If his GODFATHER II hadn't been so
gosh-darned good, the American moviegoing public may have never known
the ill-effects of terminal sequelitis. (JAWS 2, ARTHUR 2, ROBOCOP 2...
shudder.) Of course, then we wouldn't get to see Jon Lovitz recite
Fredo's dialogue in CITY SLICKERS II: THE LEGEND OF CURLY'S GOLD.
Lovitz replaces Bruno Kirby as obligatory third-wheel to Billy Crystal
and Daniel Stern, those cow-pokin' city folk who tamed the
not-so-wild-west in the smash 1991 original. One year has passed (in
movie time) and Mitch (Billy Crystal) is haunted by the fear that he may
have buried Curly (Jack Palance) alive. Remember Curly, the grizzled
trail-boss who knew one thing?
Guilt gives way to gold-fever, though, when Mitch find a map to buried
treasure inside Curly's old hat. Before you can say "Walter Huston," the
boys-- Crystal, Stern, and Lovitz, as Mitch's ne'er-do-anything
brother-- are saddled up and ready for another ride. Whereupon they run
into everything from rattlesnakes to Curly's twin brother Duke. (Those
are different?)
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE it ain't, but, to use the best excuse
in "the business," hey, it's a sequel.
Watching CITY SLICKERS II is like, er, watching CITY SLICKERS I. Once
again, Billy Crystal bee-bops around a less-than-thrilled Jack Palance.
Once again, a serious theme is weighing on the conscience of the
characters. Once again, rousing music meets vibrant vistas. SSDM.
The trouble is that the original wasn't *that* great of a film to begin
with. CITY SLICKERS was overlong and-- surprise!-- so is the sequel.
For about eighty minutes, CURLY'S GOLD is the sequel it should be. The
gags are fresh, the situations are new, and Lovitz even nails a couple
zingers on the head. But once out west, the film begins to make the same
mistakes as the original. Mistake #1: the jokes stop coming. Mistake
#2: the men start bonding. The whole thing wraps with great plot twist
that's too little, too late.
Though the handsome production values are certainly worth noting, the
cast is the selling point and, this time, they're a surprisingly mixed
bag.
Freed of his character's middle-aged angst, Crystal is a chatterbox of
commentary. He's not quite grating, but close. Lovitz doesn't have more
than a handful of lines and the deficency shows. (Heck, he was funnier
in 1993 an Oscar presenter!) Neither actor acts as goofy as Stern, the
strongest and most believable of the three. Jack Palance doesn't show
until the hour mark and, of course, steals every scene he's in. (Rated
"PG-13"/110 min.)
BOTTOM LINE: Watching CITY SLICKERS II: THE LEGEND OF CURLY'S GOLD is
like watching the original: fun for a while, but tedious toward the end.
Grade: C+
Copyright 1994 by Michael J. Legeros